garbled

adjective

gar·​bled ˈgär-bəld 

: made unclear or confusing : distorted or mixed up

a garbled message

garbled speech

… scientific cranks—those folks who concoct garbled and grandiose pseudo-scientific theories …

—Robert W. Wilson

A garbled group of syllables came over the speaker.

—Tom Clancy

But so much happened afterward to him that his five-day drive from Cracow to Warsaw soon became a garbled fading memory.

—Herman Wouk

Since the algorithm relies on the absolute accuracy of everything it has read to build the file, garbled information could lead to any number of mistakes.

—Paul C. Schuytema

Examples of garbled in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Travis is one of the most vacuous stars the major labels have ever produced, a machine for turning the work of more interesting rappers into garbled playlist slop. —Paul A. Thompson, Pitchfork, 14 Apr. 2025

The first pass turned some of the garbled text into something more usable. —Lance Eliot, Forbes, 8 Mar. 2025

But like many early AI systems, DALL-E 2 struggled with consistent text rendering, often producing garbled words and phrases within images. —ArsTechnica, 27 Mar. 2025

Then, in what might be one of the most fitting metaphors of parenting and family-building in horror-comedy history, everyone—Rohan, Josh, their parents, their partner's parents, and even their friend—start screaming the same garbled Latin incantation in an effort to confuse the demon. —Annabelle Canela, Parents, 26 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1757, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for garbled

• marbled